11th Annual Spring Conference Highlights

The 11^th Annual Spring Conference on April 25-27 was held at Sea Palms Resort in St. Simons GA. The “Worth a Million Dollars” theme was aimed at helping HTH hospital members in seeing $1 million in savings opportunities annually.  HomeTown provided the hospitals with an exemplary group of Business Partners who delivered solutions for achieve this $ 1 million dollar savings goal and a worksheet that totaled an actual $2.9 million in annual savings based on $10 million in net revenue!

In addition the 178 attendees of the conference were challenged by the following speakers and discussion panels on the agenda:

• Wednesday’s Keynote Speaker, Jack Enter (back by popular demand) on requirements for leaders to survive the change coming to healthcare over the next 24 months;
• Medicaid Sub Committee Chairman Butch Parrish spoke on the results of the legislative session and the FY 2012 Budget.
• HTH’s new CENTRAL CHARGEMASTER PROGRAM – was announced and there will be a webinar on the details in early June.
• GA-HITREC Hospital Program – Dr. Dominic Mack reviewed the Technical, Outreach and Education services the eligible hospitals and physicians will receive from the HITREC and announced a partnership with HomeTown Health to deliver the Outreach and education services.
• Jackie Koffi with DCH spoke on the Medicaid Incentive Program and DCH will be piloting the Medicaid Incentive Calculator with 2 HTH hospital members.
• Montra May, HIE Director for DCH gave an update on the status of the state’s HIE program and how the pilot programs will be
• Sherra Bell demonstrated Social Media like Twitter and taught hospital leaders how to engage in Social Media like Linked In, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube
• Jimmy Lewis, Mike Scribner, Beth Spoto, Michelle Madison and Bubba Joiner sat on a discussion panel to discuss the facts about ACO’s.
• Norma Jean Morgan, CEO of Effingham Hospital and Alan Richman shared Effingham’s incredible story on their $30 million dollar hospital expansion was funded and how their revenue has doubled since the announcement of their expansion.
• Sue Spivey, CEO of Irwin County Hospital spoke on Irwin’s Revenue Cycle Improvement Project that will net more than $500,000 to their bottom line this year!
• Jimmy and Kathy shared new “out of the box” solutions and “No Brainer” solutions and service lines that provides Millions in additional revenue.
• Microsoft and AAJ announced their partnership with HTH & GA Partnership for Telehealth and their EHR/HIE solution to ensure that no one gets left behind on Stage 3 Meaningful Use!

A main focus at the conference was the combination of newly developing technology in the area of Twitter, Face Book, Blogs, Linked In, You Tube, etc. and how these are now being used in the health care arena.  Along with a live twitter wall at the conference, Sherra Bell, Social Media Consultant , provided us with excellent examples of how social media is impacting hospitals. To view notes from Sherra’s presentation and other keynote speakers see the link below:  http://hometownhealth.wikispaces.com/Spring+Conference+presentations